Colt launches Managed Storage to help businesses mitigate risk, free resources and focus on growth
22 June 2010
Colt, a leading provider of business communications and IT managed services, today announced that it is partnering with EMC, the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, to offer a highly flexible, scalable and cost-effective Managed Storage solution and related services for medium to enterprise-sized organisations. The partnership will further enhance Colt’s position as Europe’s leading information delivery platform.
Colt’s Managed Storage allows companies across Europe to rapidly scale IT resources in line with business demand; freeing-up internal resources, streamlining business processes and facilitating new ways of working. As a result, businesses are able to focus on innovation and revenue generation.
Many companies are struggling to manage the increasing burden of regulation which necessitates robust back-up and archiving policies for compliance. Businesses are also continuing their focus on improving business continuity, disaster recovery and, critically, data security. According to research house IDC*, the demand for unstructured corporate data – such as documents, emails, presentations and, importantly, video – also significantly influences storage requirements.
Colt will offer customers Managed Storage as a service. This will include a combination of shared and dedicated storage or bespoke service offerings delivered via Colt’s data centres. As part of its portfolio of ‘Infrastructure as a Service’ services, Colt will incorporate EMC’s complete range of managed storage services, including:
- On-site Residency Services – the deployment of highly skilled, specialised professionals to address critical information management and infrastructure needs
- Remote Managed Services – optimising information management with intelligent remote monitoring, incident management, and day-to-day management based on defined service-level objectives
- Storage Managed Services – comprehensive onsite management of storage operations based on ITIL standards and EMC proven best practices.
The partnership with EMC combines industry-leading storage products with the services and skills to deploy and use them effectively. In addition to the provision of EMC technology and software, the partnership will:
- Allow Colt to leverage EMC’s EMEA-wide pre-sales support teams to build customer proposals and create bespoke service-designs according to customer requests
- Ensure that Colt’s sales and technical teams are certified on EMC’s solutions and technology
- Enable Colt and EMC to work together to develop a joint professional services capability in EMEA, designed to deepen the support and technical resources available to end-users across the region.
Adrian Saunders, Managing Director of Colt Managed Services, said: “CIOs and IT Directors are under considerable pressure to trim costs: corporate IT ties down resources which are needed in other parts of the enterprise. On the other hand, IT manages sensitive data which top executives would prefer to have firmly under their own control. This is a real dilemma for many businesses and so this partnership has been designed to offer a greater level of flexibility for companies that are cost-conscious but realise the importance of solidifying their storage polices.”
Adrian McDonald, Senior Vice President, UK & Ireland at EMC, said: “This partnership with Colt brings together EMC’s storage expertise and Colt’s first-class secure hosting and management capabilities. It will enable customers across Europe to choose a managed storage approach while still reaping the benefits of EMC’s industry-leading technology. As this will all be a managed service, with stringent SLAs, customers will rest safe in the knowledge that their data is secure – leaving them to get on with what they do best: doing business.”
The Colt Managed Storage service is available from June 2010.
*IDC: ‘The Digital Universe Decade – Are you Ready?’ May 2010
Notes to editors:
Colt’s Managed Storage service is currently available in the following countries:
- Belgium
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Spain
- UK
About Colt
Colt is Europe’s leading information delivery platform, enabling its customers to share, process and store their vital business information. Colt is an established leader in delivering integrated networking and IT managed services to major organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers. Colt operates a 13-country, 25,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 34 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 16,000 buildings and 19 Colt data centres.
Colt is listed on the London Stock Exchange (COLT). Information about Colt and its services can be found at www.colt.net
For more information, please contact:
Press contacts
Henny Valder
Colt
DDI: +44 (0)20 7942 1610
Email: henny.valder@colt.net
Laura Lynne
Grayling
DDI: +44 (0)20 7592 7922
Email: laura.lynne@grayling.com
Industry analysts’ contact
Helen Toft
Octopus
DDI: + 44 (0)8453 700 655
Mobile: +44 (0) 7989 420445
Email: ColtAR@octopuscomms.net
Analysts/investors’ contact
Gill Maclean
Colt
DDI: + 020 7863 5314
Email: ColtInvestorRelations@colt.net
PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date